"She wanted to ask him why they were all strangers who shared the same last name."
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,
I woke up the next day to find Glenn standing right in front of the red car we kind of stole, while three men were getting pieces from it. I went to stand next to him, knowing he was upset about it.
" Look at them," Glenn said to me. "Vultures."
"That was our car!" I exclaimed sadly.
"Yeah, go on, strip it clean," Glenn exclaimed to Dale, who was one of the three men.
"Generators need every drop of fuel they can get. Got no power without it," Dale explained.
"Sorry, Glenn," I said and put an arm on his shoulder. "There must be more around, you know? We could get another one someday."
"Thought I'd get to drive it at least a few more days." Glenn said sadly.
"I didn't even get to drive it," I said shrugging before I walked away.
I could see Lori and Rick talking in the distance, they didn't look that happy to be honest, I also could see Shane driving back on his jeep, he had brought water for the group.
"Water's here, y'all. Just a reminder to boil before use," he said as he parked the jeep.
Everyone was doing their jobs and it was a really calmed morning, probably because both, Merle and Daryl weren't around.
I sighed, I felt a bit bad and guilty about Merle, we should go back and get him. I was thinking about how I could bring it up to the rest as I heard two different people screaming, Carl and Sophia.
"Sophia!" I shouted as I ran to the place where I heard the screams. Lori, Rick, my mother and some other people were running there as well.
I took my knife out as I ran since I left my gun under my sleeping bag. I ran even faster when I kept hearing the two kids screaming for us.
Carl ran into her mother's arms while Sophia ran to me, I wrapped my arms around her thin body since it was me who got there before our mother.
"Are you okay?" I asked her, kneeling in front of her. Lori asked Carl if he was bitten or scratched and I asked the same to Sophia.
"No," she whispered in a terrified tone, she was shaking.
"You sure?"
"Sophia, what happened?" I heard my mum behind me asking. Sophia got out of my grip and ran towards her, crying into her chest. My mum held her tightly.
"I think she's just frightened," I told her. "I'll be right back."
I followed the rest of the group into the wood, Amy and Andrea were right behind me. I lowered my pace when I saw the men standing around something. I stood right next to Rick and saw what the problem was, one of those things was eating a deer, which had two arrows on its side. Andrea and Amy gasped when they saw it.
The male geek probably heard and smelled us because he stopped eating and stood up, facing us. I raised my knife, getting ready to kill it. The male geek lunged at me but before I could stab him, Rick hit him with something and then everyone else starting to hit him as well, except for me, Amy and Andrea.
The geek fell to the floor and Glenn, Dale, Shane, Rick, Morales and Jim kept hitting him but it seemed like it had no effect on him. They kept at it until Dale cut his head off with an axe.
"It's the first one we've had up here," Dale spoke up. "They never come this far up the mountain."
"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what."Shane said.
Then we heard some noise deeper into the woods, some footsteps and branches snapping. What if there are more of those things? I raised my arm again, holding the knife tightly. Everyone raised their weapons as well, Shane being the only one that had a rifle.
I followed the noise with my eyes until the source revealed itself, it was Daryl. I sighed in relief and lowered my hand when I saw the blue-eyed man, walking towards us, carrying his crossbow.
"Oh, Jesus." Shane muttered.
"Son of a bitch!" Daryl exclaimed as he saw the deer and the body and head of the geek next to the animal. "That's my deer! Look at it, all gnawed on by this filthy – disease-bearing – motherless – poxy – bastard!" he said each word as he kicked the body.
"Calm down, son," Dale said."That's not helping."
"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'? I've been tracking this deer for miles! Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison," he informed us. "What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" he asked, turning to look at us.
"I would not risk that," Shane said.
"That's a damn shame," Daryl said with a sigh. "I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."
It was then when we heard moaning again, we looked at the head, which was opening its mouth, wanting to eat us.
"Oh God!" Any exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hands. Andrea quickly pulled her away and both walked back to camp.
"Come on, people, what the hell?" Daryl exclaimed as he grabbed his crossbow, pointed at the head and shot it right in the eye, he approached it and took his arrow back. "It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?"
And with that he walked away, Rick just looked at him a bit surprised by his act. He didn't even notice there was someone new among us, typical.
"That's Daryl," I informed him. "Merle's brother."
He nodded at me, I tensed a bit just thinking about his reaction about what happened to Merle. He wasn't going to take it well, that's for sure.
"Merle! Merle!" I could hear Daryl calling his brother, I tensed even more as we all walked after him. "Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up."
"Daryl, just slow down a bit," Shane said to him. "I need to talk to you."
"About what?"
"About Merle. There was a – There was a problem in Atlanta."
"He dead?"
"We're not sure," Shane said honestly.
"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl spat.
"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," Rick said, speaking for the first time since Daryl got back.
"Who are you?" Daryl asked, finally noticing the new guy.
"Rick Grimes."
"Rick Grimes," Daryl repeated mockingly. "You got something you want to tell me?"
"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."
"Hold on," Daryl said. "Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!"
"Yeah."
Daryl just looked at Rick for two seconds like he was going to murder him before throwing the squirrels at him and attempting to actually murder him when Shane got in the way and pushed Daryl to the ground. Amy stood next to me as we watched.
"Watch the knife!" someone yelled as Daryl took out his knife.
Daryl tried to hurt Rick but he was a cop, he had probably been in that situation more than once. Rick and Shane got hold of him and took the knife from him.
"You'd best let me go!" Daryl exclaimed.
"Nah, I think it's better if I don't," Shane said to him.
"Choke hold is illegal,"
"You can file a complaint," Shane said sarcastically. "We'll keep this up all day."
"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic," Rick said calmly as he knelt beside the defenceless man. "Do you think we can manage that? Hmm? Do you think we can manage that?"
"Yeah."
Shane let go of him and pushed him to the ground, I wanted to intervene and help him but I knew it was better if I just stayed out of this.
"What I did was not on a whim," Rick told him, kneeling next to Daryl again, who hadn't stood up. "Your brother does not work and play well with others."
"It's not Rick's fault." We heard T-Dog speaking up. "I had the key. I dropped it."
"You couldn't pick it up?"
"He dropped it in a drain," I said after I noticed no one was saying anything, that earned me a glare from Daryl, who was finally standing up.
"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it doesn't," he said, glaring at me for a second before turning to look at Rick, T-Dog and Shane again.
"Well, maybe this will," T-Dog told him. "Look, I chained the door to the roof. So the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock."
"It's gotta count for something," I spoke up again, earning another glare and again I regretted opening my mouth but apparently I couldn't keep it shut.
Everyone stayed quiet. Daryl glared at everyone else before he ran his hand under his eyes, probably wiping away some tears.
"Hell with y'all!" he shouted. "Just tell me where he is so I can go get him."
"He'll show you," Lori said, speaking for the first time, everyone turned their attention to her. "Isn't that right?"
"I'm going back," Rick told us.
After that an awkward and long silence followed, Lori walked into the RV, Daryl walked away and Rick started to walk in the other direction, going straight to his tent to get ready.
About half an hour later Rick came out of the tent. Shane was waiting for him and they started to have an argument, it was obvious by the looks on their faces.
"Could you throw me a bone here, man? Could you just tell me why?" Shane said, following Rick. "Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?"
"Hey, choose your words more carefully," Daryl said, who was close to them.
"No, I did, douche bag's what I meant," Shane said to Daryl. "Merle Dixon, the guy wouldn't give you a glass of water, if you were dying of thirst."
"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst, me," Rick told Shane. "Thirst and exposure."
"We can't just leave him there," I told Shane, taking a few steps towards them. "Not even him deserves that and even if he does, I wouldn't be able to live with that on my conscience."
"We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being," Rick said and by his tone, it meant it was final.
"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" Lori asked Rick, who just turned to look at Glenn.
"Oh, come on!" he exclaimed, closing his eyes and shaking his head in disbelief.
"You know the way. You've been there before, in and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too," Rick said looking at Lori for a second.
"That's just great," Shane said. "Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?"
"Four," T-Dog exclaimed.
"And a girl," I said, looking at Shane and then at Rick and Glenn. "Both Glenn and I had been there so many times before, you'll need me."
"My day just gets better and better, don't it?" Daryl exclaimed with fake excitement.
"You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" T-Dog said to Daryl. "Why you?"
"You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language."
"That's five."
"It's not just five," Shane exclaimed. "You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp."
"It seems to me what you really need most here – are more guns," Rick told him.
"Right, the guns," Glenn said.
"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns," Rick started explaining to Shane. "I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up."
"Ammo?" Shane asked, looking a bit tempted now.
"Seven hundred rounds, assorted."
Then Lori spoke up, telling him it wasn't worth it. Rick and Lori started to argue, while the rest us, Carl included, just watched them argue.
"I need that bag," Rick told her.
Lori just looked at him in disbelief and then dropped her head, knowing she wouldn't win the argument. Rick just walked away as none of them said another word. I guess we are on our way back to Atlanta.
"All ready," Glenn said as I threw my bag inside the van. I had my knife and gun with me, in the waistband of my jeans. T-dog was already sat inside the vehicle and Daryl was standing next to it, we were just waiting for Rick.
"Cici." I turned around to see my little sister staring at me with pleading eyes. "Please don't go, please."
"Sophia." I sighed. "I'll be back soon, we'll just go to that building, get Merle, and get back, that's it. We won't do anything else and see who's going, Rick, T-Dog, Daryl, Glenn, I will be fine."
"I would feel better if you stay this time."
"Mum is here, she'll take care of you," I said and got inside the back part of the van.
"Please," she begged and when I looked at her I noticed tears were forming in her brown eyes, I sighed.
"Why do you want me to stay? You know that I always go and come back, don't I?"
"I have a bad feeling, please stay."
I took a deep sigh, I looked at T-Dog, who only shrugged at me and then at Daryl, who just dropped his gaze, pretending he wasn't watching and listening to us.
"Fine," I finally said, grabbing my backpack and giving it to Sophia as I climbed out of the van. I turned to Daryl, he looked a bit disappointed but at the same time he looked relieved which was weird but I couldn't be sure because his face turned emotionless before I blinked my eyes. "Tell Rick I won't go." Daryl just nodded. "Be safe, okay?"
I grabbed my bag from Sophia's hand and threw it inside Daryl's tent, I also hid my gun under my sleeping bag but I kept my knife just in case another geek was around.
I turned around and sighed as I saw the van leaving, I'm an adventurous kind of girl and I usually like to be involved in the runs but I guess Sophia needs me more than Merle and Daryl.
About an hour later, Andrea, Amy, Jacqui and my mother went down to the lake to do the laundry, that's another reason why I like going away, if I go I don't really have to wash my clothes, my mum does it for me but since I'm here now I guess I have to clean the clothes I worn yesterday.
I sat in the middle of the group, Andrea and Amy were to my right and my mother and Jacqui to my left. Shane and Carl were on the other side of the lake trying to catch frogs, it was stupid but I wish I could join them.
"How could this be fair?" I asked out loud, as I saw my father sitting on our family Cherokee, he does nothing but sit on his ass all day.
"The world ended." Amy told me. "Didn't you get the memo?"
"It's just the way it is," my mother added.
"How can you just accept that? We're not slaves, it's not just the way it is."
Andrea nodded at me but none of the women there replied to me, they just kept washing the clothes. I sighed and said nothing else either, all I want is to be done with this and go back to the tent, maybe I could take a nap or something before Daryl comes back.
"I do miss my maytag," my mother told us after a minutes of silence.
"I miss my Benz, my sat nav," Andrea added.
"I miss my coffee-maker with that dual-drip filter and built-in grinder, honey," Jacqui said, closing her eyes, probably tasting the flavour again in her mind.
"My computer," Amy said. "And texting."
"Hot baths," I said as I nodded at Amy because I also missed my computer.
"I miss my vibrator," Andrea suddenly said, making all of us gape at her and laugh at her. I would have agreed with her but my mum was right next to me, that would be awkward.
"Oh my God!" her sister exclaimed.
"Me too," my mother said quietly, everyone let out laughs while I just stared at her in shock, okay, this is pretty awkward. Damn.
"I didn't need to know that," I mutter under my breath. "Ewww!"
"Hey, what's so funny?" My father called from a few feet away from us, he had finally given his ass a rest as he was not longer sat on it. He was smoking a cigarettes and his face didn't show any kind of smile.
"Just swapping war stories, Ed," Andrea told him.
My father slowly made his way to us as he continued to smoke. He stopped right behind us. I closed my eyes and waited for the demands and insults. I had tried to work on my tolerance and attempt to not interfere but sometimes it's just not so possible.
"Problem, Ed?" Andrea asked him, obviously uncomfortable with his presence.
"Nothing that concerns you," he told her. "And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club."
Excuse me!
Andrea apparently had enough of him just being rude and standing right behind us like a creep. She stood up and took a few steps towards him.
"Ed, tell you what, you don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself," Andrea exclaimed and threw a shirt to him. "Here."
My father only looked even more upset and in just a second he forcefully threw it back at her.
"Oh!"
"Ain't my job, missy," he spat.
"Andrea, don't," I warned her.
About two weeks after we got here to this mountain, I was washing my own clothes as today when my father came to me and demanded me to do his laundry as well. I told him I was old enough to only do mine and not obey him, he raised his hand to hit me, he did it a couple of times until Merle got in between me and him and stopped him from hitting me. That's why I respect Merle, that's why I don't hate him as everyone else here does. He saved me that day and I will never forget that.
"What is your job, Ed? Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?"
"Well, it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed bitch. Come on," he said the last to my mother.
My mother slowly stood up and I just rolled my eyes at her. I hated seeing this and feeling so helpless about these situations.
"Let's go!"
"I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed," Andrea told him. She's a brave but a bit stupid woman, sometimes it's better to just not get in the middle of it.
"And I say it's none of your business," my father snap to Andrea. "Come on now. You heard me."
"Carol," Andrea said, putting her hand on my mother's shoulder, trying to stop her. My mother just kept telling her it was alright and that she had to go. By now all of us were on our feet.
"Hey, don't think I won't knock you on your ass just 'cause you're some college-educated cooze, all right?" Andrea gasped in disbelief. "Now you come on now or you gonna regret it later."
"So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed?" Jacqui told him, speaking for the first time. "Yeah, we've seen them."
He just laughed at her. "Stay out of this. Now come on! You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am done talking. Come on!"
I stayed in the back of the group, trying not to be noticed as I stared sadly at the scene in front of me. I had witnessed it so many times throughout my life and let me tell you, it never gets better.
My father grabbed my mother's arm and started to pulled her with him. Andrea and Jacqui mostly tried to stop her from going. I wanted to help as well, my blood was boiling knowing there would be new bruises by dinner time but I couldn't do anything.
And sure enough, my father lost his patience and slapped my mother right in her face. Andrea lost it and started hitting his chest and in that moment something snapped inside of me. I wasn't controlling my actions anymore. I stood forward and started to yell at my father and actually pushed him.
"You ungrateful little brat!" He shouted at me and slapped me as well.
The slap was strong enough to make me stumble a bit but not to make me fall to the ground but to my luck or actually lack of it, my foot landed on a rock, I lost my balance and fell, I don't know what exactly happened but after that everything turned black.
*Enjoy!*